Letter to Rick Hart

[redandtheblue]

Don't post much but, read and follow here a lot. Felt motivated to post this email I sent to Rick Hart and his response.

Some of the info in my email was taken from posts on this board, so thank you for the info to the entire community!


Subject: June Jones and Football Team

Director Hart,

I am a SMU Mustang, class of 2005. I am writing you today to tell you how dissatisfied I am with the recruiting efforts and overall performance of the coaching staff.

When coach Jones was hired it was some of the most exciting news I have ever received. For a few years after that I was a huge June supporter and showed up at events in NY to personally thank him for his help, however it seems our team and coaches have settled into a rut and seem resigned to our perpetual mediocrity.

Most upsetting about this is the Head Coach's lack of hands on recruiting effort. He rarely if ever conducts in home visits and seems to be vacationing or doing charity work when most other big time college football coaches are on the recruiting trail.

Since June has been here these are the results:

0 conference titles
0 weeks ranked
1-10 record vs ranked teams
6-30 record vs winning teams
2-17 record vs A&M, Baylor, TCU, Tech and Houston

Pretty sub par.

Does coach Jones believe we are destined to forever languish in mediocrity? That's what it sounds like when he implied this week regarding recruiting that they we're not even trying to compete against the P5 schools, but did throw in "we do play TCU" as if to say we should try to compete against them for some kids.

This wasn't always the case. He once said:

"We are 1 1/2 recruiting classes from competing for a BCS Bowl"

That is the kind of verve and positive vision I want an SMU Mustang Head Football coach to have. What happened to that guy?

As an alumni that lives in NY I even bought a pair of season tickets to support the team, but that was the season before the Arizona State debacle where coach Jones single handedly cost us all our best recruits.

I don't mind the team losing, I would buy tickets to support the team if it was 1-11 but the coaching staff was clearly putting forth 100% effort, and had a clear vision, strategy and plan to return us to National Prominence. Most of all I need the Coaches to believe it is possible for SMU, like TCU, and University of Miami to be forces to reckon with on a National Stage. Not some middle of the road school destined to wallow in a mediocre existence.

I don't know if the answer is re-energizing Coach Jones by letting him know the level we are competing at is unacceptable or if we just need a new Coach. That's your job to figure out. The point of this letter is to express my disappointment and beg for some sort of action. SMU Fans will except nothing less than greatness. As you can see with Coach Brown and the Men's Basketball team, we will show up and cheer our butts off for a winner and Coach who puts everything into recruiting and winning.

For all of our sake, I wish you luck and hope to hear how these issues are being addressed at the Administrative level within the Athletic Department.

Thank you.

D. Justin Massimo
Go Ponies

Response:

"Mr. Massimo:

Thank you for your e-mail. We are working hard to position all of our programs for championship success. No one is satisfied or complacent. Building a football program requires consistent effort and investment over time. The recent success of the men’s basketball program will only help to advance the football and our entire athletics department.

We appreciate your support. Go Mustangs!

All the best,
Rick"

[PlanoStang]

Maybe you could have listed the results of the previous 4 post DP coaches before JJ

That would be Gregg, All-American SMU NFL caliber coach, Rossley, NFL caliber coach, Cavan.
Div 1AAAA no name, Bennett, DC at K-St.

Scapegoating is not really classy

[Junior]

um, thanks for posting?

[SMU2007]

Hope you added a tl;dr to that email. No one would read that entire thing, especially Rick.

[San Antonio Mustang]

Good Email and I do think Rick read the whole thing.

[smusic 00]

I think it's a good letter, if even a bit verbose. Thanks for sending and posting the response.

[redandtheblue]

I just thought you all would want to see the response.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[Lebanese4Life]

mehh, typical AD speak

[Bergermeister]

Good Email and I do think Rick read the whole thing.

Yeah.
Can you imagine how many crap emails he gets from whiners? The man has a real job. A secretary replies with generic responses. To believe otherwise is ridiculous.

[SMUer]

Good email. Rick & Co. know your age demographic is their sweet spot for new ticket sales. It was hopeful and honest, and I think they should hear that. Plus, your posting of his response probably saved his inbox a dozen-or-so similar emails, for better or for worse. Posting responses is a good tradition.

[Webmaster]

I like Rick. I'm probably a little biased because we run a website, but what I like about Rick as a fan and a member of the media is four things: 1) He is accessible, 2) He is extremely intelligent, 3) He's plugged in, 4) No BS.

This is 180 degrees different than what we've dealt with in the past. Rick may have some canned responses that he can cut and paste from, but I'm pretty sure he reads everything fans e-mail to him. In the interviews we've had with him, no subject has been off the table. There are certain things he can't comment on by rule, but even then he'll explain why and tell us what he can.

Realizing that he's a busy man, I would encourage any PonyFan to contact Rick when it's appropriate to provide feedback and constructive criticism –– positive or negative. I think he listens and has all of our best interests at heart (no pun intended).

[redpony]

Webmaster: disagree with you opinion.
Hart's comment:
"We are working hard to position all of our programs for championship success."

is pure BS. i.e. look at our men's soccer. We have had a coach for over 6 yrs. now that has been unable to win at the highest level in spite of having substantial talent on the team. The prior coach consistently had teams that were nationally ranked. I know of at least several people that have suggested that a coaching change needs to be made but he refuses to take any action. IMO that is not positioning this program for 'championship success'.

[Treadway21]

Good letter. Harts response was generic but as long as June is still coach he cannot say anything other than "we are working on it". The work that has been done with Basketball is an indication of what we can expect when we get a new coach.

I am very supportive of Hart. He and his staff are engaged and want to modernize how SMU interacts with its supporters. Football is locked into its trajectory for now, so I think people should reserve judgement until after next season.


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[Big12Mustang]

Good letter. Harts response was generic but as long as June is still coach he cannot say anything other than "we are working on it". The work that has been done with Basketball is an indication of what we can expect when we get a new coach.

I am very supportive of Hart. He and his staff are engaged and want to modernize how SMU interacts with its supporters. Football is locked into its trajectory for now, so I think people should reserve judgement until after next season.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a feeling June will pull one of his tricks and win 10 games plus bowl game like he did in Hawaii in 2006...

#TrollingSMU like he always does

2005 Hawaii Warriors football
Conference Western Athletic Conference
2005 record 5–7 (4–4 WAC)
Head coach June Jones
Offensive coordinator June Jones
Offensive scheme Run and shoot
Defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville
Base defense 3–4
Home stadium Aloha Stadium
(Capacity: 50,000)

All of a sudden...MIRACLE!

2006 Hawaii Warriors football
Hawai'i Bowl Champions
Sheraton Hawaiʻi Bowl vs. Arizona State, Won 41–24
Conference Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches #24
2006 record 11–3 (7–1 WAC)
Head coach June Jones
Offensive coordinator June Jones
Offensive scheme Run and shoot
Defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville
Base defense 3–4
Home stadium Aloha Stadium
(Capacity: 50,000)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Hawai ... tball_team
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Hawai ... tball_team

[dr rc]

his response sounds like he didn't even read the letter

how does this

Most upsetting about this is the Head Coach's lack of hands on recruiting effort. He rarely if ever conducts in home visits and seems to be vacationing or doing charity work when most other big time college football coaches are on the recruiting trail.

equate to this?

We are working hard to position all of our programs for championship success. No one is satisfied or complacent. Building a football program requires consistent effort and investment over time.